MONTREAL – The United Nations aviation agency’s governing body yesterday called on Iran to speed up its investigation into a Kiev-bound passenger plane that was mistakenly shot down in January, and issue a final report.
Ukraine International Airlines flight 752 crashed shortly after taking off from the Iranian capital’s main airport on January 8.
The Islamic republic admitted days later that its forces accidentally shot down the aircraft, killing all 176 people on board, after firing two missiles amid heightened US-Iran tensions.
The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Council, backed by all 36 member states, issued a statement calling on Tehran to “expedite the accident investigation”.
“We have had several exchanges with the Iranian CAA (Civil Aviation Authority), in which we urged its authorities to expedite the accident investigation in accordance with ICAO Annex 13 provisions,” said ICAO Council president Salvatore Sciacchitano.
Annex 13 outlines that final accident reports should be issued within 12 months of a crash.
Both Sciacchitano and Canadian Transport Minister Marc Garneau noted the “grief and expectations” of the families of flight 752 crash victims.
Canada, which lost 55 nationals and 30 permanent residents in the crash, has demanded answers from Iran after the latter’s “limited” initial report failed to explain why it had fired missiles at the plane.
Iran’s civil aviation authority has said the misalignment of an air defence unit’s radar system was the key “human error” that led to the plane’s downing.
Iran previously vowed to reveal “detailed” information on the probe by the end of last month. – AFP, November 7, 2020
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